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Unknown Femur (2024)
Femur Bone, 3D Print, Glass, 49 × 18 × 18 cm
In "Unknown Femur" Bart draws on Susan Leigh Star’s concept of boundary objects to consider skeletal remains—dinosaur bones or paleolithic hominid fossils—as universal points of inquiry. The piece involves scanning an actual mammalian femur bone, creating plaster positives, and pressing hot glass onto these plaster forms. Once the glass elements were formed, they were adhered to the bone, and additional 3D-printed components referencing human bone molecules were integrated. Influenced by the speculative fusion of species and materials as seen in works like Annihilation, Bart engages with the idea that life evolves and mutates. The totemic femur becomes a liminal artifact that sits at intersections of biology, history, and art, prompting multiple interpretations across different knowledge systems.
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Diana Reloaded (2023)
3D Print, Coconut, Brass, 46 × 13 × 13 cm
Marlene Bart’s "Diana Reloaded" reimagines the tradition of cabinets of curiosities for the present day, blending natural and artificial elements into a striking contemporary sculpture. At its core is a 3D scan of the goddess Diana, reinterpreted as a huntress of visual information, fused with Medusa, from whose head corals and skulls emerge—symbols that reference the aesthetics of historical collections.
The piece was created using a multidisciplinary approach, combining 3D scanning, parametric modeling with Python scripts, and AI tools like DALL-E 3. By challenging traditional boundaries between "Artificialia" and "Naturalia," Bart explores the evolving relationship between nature, order, and technology in culture.
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Metamorphosis (2023)
Glass, 35 x 21 x 14 cm
In “Metamorphosis” two snails engage in mating, each possessing both male and female reproductive organs. Their translucent glass bodies fuse and intermingle, referencing the hermaphroditic qualities that blur binary divisions. Some snail species even risk bodily transformations, and lose their sex organ for survival during the mating process. These quiet encounters offer a counterpoint to more dramatic displays of dominance in the animal kingdom, and align with queer ecology’s challenge to rigid heteronormative categories. The sculpture illuminates the non-binary potentials present in nature’s reproductive strategies, rendering these fluid unions visible and tangible.
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Psychographics Construction (2023)
Glass, 3D Print, 18 x 11 x 12 cm
In “Psychographics Construction” a spider is situated on an abstracted glass brain. This inversion of normative hierarchies of cognition challenges the primacy assigned to human intellect. The spider, sourced from a CT scan file at the Natural History Museum in Berlin, was meticulously adjusted to fit into a brain form designed at Berlin Glass. With six of its legs penetrating the glass, and two resting on the surface, the piece juxtaposes technological innovation—3D printing, scanning—with an organism often misunderstood. Instead of symbolizing human fears or cultural projections, the spider occupies the cerebral landscape as a habitat, as if reclaiming its place as a biological creature.
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Ammonitehorn (2023)
3D Print, 40 x 12.5 x 6 cm
"Ammonitehorn" is a 3D-printed sculpture connected to the VR work "Theatrum Radix". It consists of a CT scan of an ammonite and an antelope horn. In the VR animation, one can virtually travel through these elements. When brought together as a sculpture, they resemble an object from a cabinet of curiosities.
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Flying Sea Turtle (2023)
3D Print, 30 x 23 x 13 cm
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Pipa pipa (2023)
3D Print, 24 x 21 x 14 cm
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Dissolution (2023)
3D Print, 4 x 4 x 35 cm
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The Artist’s Book as Multimedia Encoclopaedia (2023)
3D Print, 8 x 14 x 20 cm
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Honeycomb Asteroid (2023)
3D Print, 18 x 18 x 16 cm
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Hercules Scales (2023)
3D Print, Brass, 22 x 18 x 7 cm
"Hercules Scales" is connected to the VR work Theatrum Radix. In the VR, it appears as a large spatial element in a scene where two beetles, based on surface scans, meet. One of them is a Hercules beetle, and "Hercules Scales" also draws upon this scan as its source material. It is 3D-printed in golden filament and complemented with brass elements.
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Perception (2023)
Wire, Plexiglass, 3D Print, 10 x 10 x 39 cm
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Highschool Nightmare (2020)
Murano Glass, 9 x 31 x 20 cm
"Highschool Nightmare" revisits the American cultural trope of dissecting a frog in a biology class. Instead of presenting the frog as a mere specimen, Bart’s glass sculpture depicts its organs and body parts reassembled into an elegant, translucent form. Drawing on Donna Haraway’s critiques of mechanistic worldviews—like those espoused by the early modern scientist Francis Bacon—this piece opposes the notion of reducing living beings into isolated parts for study. Crafted at Berengo Studio through a reversal of the dissection process (organs made first, then assembled), the work invites a view of nature as relational and interconnected, rather than fragmented into discrete objects of knowledge.
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Cage (2020)
Murano Glass, Monkey Skull, 35 x 19 x 15 cm
"Cage" consists of a crystal-clear glass claw, reminiscent of the claw of a large bird or dinosaur – a recurring motif in Bart's work. The claw extends over the skull of a capuchin monkey. In this piece, Bart plays with the meaning of Vanitas symbols, which traditionally address the decay and transience of life. At the same time, the objects, which could also be found in cabinets of curiosities, refer to the collection and preservation of the rare and unkown. The combination of these elements invites reflection on the cycle of life and death, as well as the human desire to conserve and preserve the fleeting and perishable.
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Mammaliasaurus 1.0 (2020)
Murano Glass, 13 x 31 x 14 cm
With “Mammaliasaurus” Bart chose to bring to Murano the skull of a European Pine Marten from Germany instead of working with the Venetian lagoon’s familiar sea creatures. She scaled and reshaped the skull into a form reminiscent of a dinosaur or a bear, merging categories and expectations. By playfully blending “Mammal” and “Dinosaur,” the sculpture hints at migration and adaptation across ecosystems and time. Crafted in both iridescent and clear glass, the small Marten skull has been transformed into an object of power and contemplation.
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Mammaliasaurus 2.0 (2020)
Murano Glass, 13 x 31 x 14 cm
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Protostomian Love Affair (2020)
Murano Glass, 14 x 31 x 15 cm
The work "Protostomian Love Affair" explores the mating behavior of scorpions and consists of two scorpion sculptures that can be presented either individually or together. Before the mating dance can take place, it must first be initiated. This initiation behavior is diverse and includes visual, mechanical, and chemical stimuli. It serves not only to help the scorpions find each other, but also to protect the male from potential cannibalistic attacks. When the two scorpions come together, their pincers interlock.
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Psychographics Reloaded (2020)
Murano Glass, 22 x 18 x 16 cm
“Psychographics Reloaded” focuses on the interplay between biology and cognition. Building on earlier resin works that involved insects, here Bart merges organic insect forms with the delicate architecture of a human brain rendered in glass. At Berengo Studio, individually sculpted bees were embedded into the hot glass brain, resulting in distorted, jewel-like abstractions of these insects. Their presence nods to surrealist traditions that disrupt rational boundaries, as though thoughts buzz like swarms and the human mind becomes an ecosystem of instinctual activities. The resulting sculpture blurs lines between the cerebral and the organic, suggesting that cognition and natural life are intertwined in unexpected ways.
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Survial of the Hardest (2020)
Murano Glass, 34 x 15 x 14 cm
The work "Survival of the Hardest" is made of Murano glass and depicts a stylized human heart being grasped by a claw resembling that of a bird or dinosaur. Both elements are presented in a goblet-like arrangement, referencing Bart’s exploration of the relationship between humans and nature, as well as the paradoxical and absurd aspects within this relationship.
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Mollusca Love Affair (2020)
Murano Glass, 40 x 38 x 18 cm
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Däumling (2020)
Epoxy Resin, 3 x 7 x 6 cm
The small sculpture "Däumling" combines a cast of a fetus from a pregnancy anatomy model with a cast of human teeth, creating a striking and unsettling juxtaposition.
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Stag Beetle Love Affair (2020)
Murano Glass, 15 x 20 x 16 cm
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Stag Beetle Love Affair 2.0 (2020)
Murano Glass, 20 x 50 x 16 cm
In “Stag Beetle Love Affair” two male stag beetles appear locked in a contest over dominance and mating rights. The sculpture’s iridescent brown translucent glass surface, created at the renowned Berengo Studio, highlights the tension and fluidity of this natural encounter. Examined through a lens of queer ecology, the contest appears to have a homoerotic tension and is not fixed within heteronormative assumptions. Instead, it unsettles conventional narratives about animal behavior and challenges the idea that nature adheres to simple binary scripts. The collaboration between Bart and the studio’s glass technicians—where artist and maker share agency—reflects a non- hierarchical approach to creation, mirroring the conceptual framework behind the work.
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Psychographics Reloaded 2.0 (2020)
Murano Glass, 16 x 21 x 19 cm
"Psychographics Reloaded 2.0" is a glass sculpture crafted on Murano. It depicts a spider-like creature molded from glass, which is then compressed into a stylized brain shape. The piece creates the impression that the two forms are dissolving into one another, while also generating captivating and unique light reflections.
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Dragon Balls (2020)
Epoxy Resin, Reptile Skin, each 9 x 9 x 9 cm
"Dragon Balls" are made from preserved Bartagahmen skin and a cast, both in round form. They represent Bart's interest in the craft of taxidermy and the intricate degree of abstraction and naturalism.
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Born to Be Alive (2020)
Murano Glass, 45 x 18 x 16 cm
“Born to Be Alive” depicts two snakes emerging from a glass specimen jar, capturing a dynamic interplay between containment and vitality. Western imagery often reduces snakes to symbols— balance, eternity, temptation. Bart acknowledges these layers of cultural meaning, such as those referencing Caduceus staffs and Ouroboros motifs. Yet, by portraying the snakes in the act of escaping confinement, the work resists fixed symbolic interpretation. The piece renders them as living entities asserting their own agency, rather than mere stand-ins for human concepts.
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Psychographics Infestation (2020)
Porcelain, 6 x 16 x 6 cm
"Psychographics Infestation" is covered with clusters of black, red, and blue dots. While these are not anatomically aligned with the brain areas, they still refer to activity and possible thought streams.
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Psychographics Infestation 2.0 (2020)
Porcelain, 16 x 16 x 6 cm
"Psychographics Infestation 2.0" continues Bart's exploration of the relationship between human neural networks and social structures. In this piece, the behavior of insects, specifically ants, is depicted as they metaphorically crawl across the brain. Bart draws parallels between the organization and interactions within ant colonies and the complex connections and patterns found in human neural networks. The work invites reflection on the similarities and overlaps between natural and human systems, questioning how behavior, communication, and structure emerge and intertwine in different contexts.
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Skeleton of a Marten (2020)
4 x 70 x 50 cm
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Deathmask of a Marten (2020)
Plaster
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Magma Marten black & rosé (2018)
Epoxy Resin, 17 x 13 x 5 cm
The "Magma Marten" sculptures were created based on a cast Bart made from a marten found as roadkill. The sculptures almost resemble fossilized remains, peacefully suspended in time. Bart’s work reflects on the fragile nature of life and death, encapsulating the marten’s form in a moment of stillness, frozen in a state that evokes both preservation and decay.
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Psychographics (2018)
Epoxy, Wasps
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Human Torso (2017)
Brass
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